Ukraine shoots down transport plane carrying ‘150 Russian paratroopers’ trying to storm Kyiv as Putin launches full-scale assault on capital

  • President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday night warned his people in an address to the nation that the capital, Kyiv, would be attacked overnight
  • For two nights in a row Russia has bombarded Kyiv, but Moscow is expected to begin what it hopes to be a final push in the early hours of Saturday
  • Zelensky, speaking from a secret location in the capital, said: ‘Russia will try to break our resistance with all its might. Tonight the enemy will begin storming us’
  • He urged Ukrainians to resist, adding that Chernihiv, Symy, Kharkiv, Donbass, and the south could all come under attack 
  • Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces are moving towards Kyiv from multiple directions, in an attempt to encircle the city 
  • Vitali Klitschko, the former world champion heavyweight boxer who is now mayor of Kyiv, said the city faces a ‘difficult night’ 
  • Ukraine’s armed forces said on Friday night that they had shot down south of Kyiv a Russian IL-76 military transport plane carrying Russian paratroopers
  • Hours later they claimed to have downed in Donbas a helicopter and Su-25 ground attack jet, using surface-to-air missiles 

UKRAINE WAR: LATEST

  • Russia said it is not willing to negotiate with Ukraine’s government until military operation is over
  • Came after Zelensky called for a sit-down with Putin to end the fighting
  • Putin said he would be willing to send a team of negotiators to meet Zelensky – in Belarus, which is helping with the invasion
  • Russian president then called on Ukrainian military to overthrow the ‘regime’ in Kyiv
  • China’s President Xi spoke to Putin by phone, called for diplomatic solution to the fighting
  • Ukraine says Russia has bombed 33 civilian sites in Kyiv in the last 24 hours
  • Two children have been reported killed in Kyiv bombing overnight
  • Ukraine has banned men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country to conscript them into armed forces
  • Zelensky has allowed anyone of any age to join the armed forces, and called on Europeans from other countries to come and join the fight
  • Russia is deploying paratroopers to Chernobyl after capturing it on Thursday, Moscow said
  • Ukraine reported ‘anomalous’ radiation levels at the plant amid fears nuclear storage was breached in fighting, but Moscow said readings are normal
  • Russia claims to have destroyed 118 Ukrainian military sites in 30 hours of fighting
  • PM Boris Johnson pledged more support is coming to Ukraine in the coming days
  • Johnson shared a phone call with Zelensky on Friday morning